1 . Snowy was a beautiful little horse. Since she was born she has wanted to be a show jumping horse. Every day she would _________ her mum to allow her to _________. Finally, her mum decided that she was_________enough and they went into the jumping arena (竞技场).

Snowy was very_________, but when she saw how_________the jumps were, she started shaking. “I can’t jump that high. It’s a good idea that we_________ ”, she said. Her mum said, “I wouldn’t expect you to _________that high. There’s a log (原木) on the ground. Why don’t you start jumping over that?” Snowy gathered (积聚) her _________, walked to the log and then _________ to jump over it.

“I did it!” she shouted happily. Soon Snowy developed good__________in jumping over logs.__________, her mum said, “You can’t just jump over logs __________you want to be a show jumper. __________the low jump over there.”

Again, Snowy was __________ , but she tried it and found she could do it. As time went on, Snowy progressed to taller jumps, until finally she __________ the arena and looked at the tallest jumps.

Over the past few weeks, something had __________. These jumps seemed much less __________ to Snowy. She jumped over them easily. Her mum looked with __________ at her and said, “This is what happens when you start __________and build your way up.”

So never be afraid of __________ in life, but start small and keep trying. Then you’ll be able to do anything.

2 . "Everything happens for the best, "my mother said whenever I faced disappointment. "If you carry on, one day something good will happen. And you'll realize that it wouldn't have happened if not for that _________ disappointment.

Mother was _________. As I discovered after graduating from college in 1932, I had decided to hunt for a job in _________, then work my way up to sports announcer. I went to Chicago and _________ on the door of every station--but got _________ every time. In one studio, a kind lady told me that big stations couldn't _________ hiring a(n) _________ person. "Go out in the suburbs and find a _________ station that'll give you a chance, "she said. I turned to Dixon. Illinois.

While there were no radios announcing jobs in Dixon, they had opened a store and wanted a local athlete to _________ its sports department. The job __________ just right for me. But I wasn't hired. My __________ must have shown. "Everything happens for the best, " my mother reminded me. Dad offered me the car to __________ job. As I left his office, my frustration __________. I asked aloud, "How can a fellow get to be a sports announcer if he can't get a job in a radio station?" I was __________ the elevator when I heard MacArthur calling, " What do you say about sports? Do you know anything about __________ ?"Then he let me stand before a __________ and asked me to broadcast a(n) __________ game. I did a 15-minute football occasional commentary（实况报道）, and Peter told me I would be __________ Saturday's game! On my way home, as I have many times, I __________ my mother's words: If you carry on, one day something good will happen.

I often wonder what __________ my life might have taken if I'd not gotten the job at Montgomery Ward.

3 . When I was about 12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings. Week by week her list grew: I was very _________, I wasn’t a good student, I_________ too much, I was too proud, and so on. I tried to bear all this _________I could. But at last, I became very _________. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.

He listened to me _________. Then he asked, “Are the things she says true or not? Janet, didn’t you ever wonder what you’re like? Well, you now have that girl’s _________. Go and make a list of everything she said and _________ the points that are true. Pay _________attention to the other things she said.”

I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn’t _________(like being very thin), but a good number I could — and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I got a clear __________of myself.

I brought the list back to Daddy. He __________to take it. “That’s just for __________,” he said. “You know better than anyone else the __________about yourself. But you have to learn to __________, not just close your ears in anger feeling __________. When something said about you is true , you’ll find it will be of __________to you. Don’t shut your ears. Listen to them all, __________hear the truth and do what you know is the __________ thing to do.

Daddy’s advice has __________me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a __________piece of advice.

5 . Years ago I began to learn to drive in a driving training center. It was many miles away from where I _________, you know. I had to get up early at home and _________ a bus on the roadside to get to the center. The bus ticket was not expensive but you had to have small _________ for there was no conductor or any automatic paying system to be _________ on it.

One day, I was in a hurry before I _________ to the bus stop. When I stepped on the bus, I began to feel my _________ to find some change, which made me completely _________. I _________ searching but it seemed that there was none, and I began to feel _________. At the same time, the bus door was already __________ and it was moving.

I __________ to the driver and said I would __________ at the next stop though I should get off at other __________ to reach the training center. Just at this time, a lady beside me told the driver that she would pay for me.__________, I didn’t know the lady.

But before I started to express my thanks, the driver said, “In that case, just __________ it.” And then he said, “If you meet people who forget to bring the fees with them, just pay for it.”

Now, I hold the belief that a small positive action can be printed in my heart as long as I live.

7 . It was a cool October evening. Excitement and family members _______the hall. I was only a 7-year-old girl, but I was the center of _______. Finally, after weeks of preparation, I would _______all my hard work in a dance of performance. “Everything would be_______”, I thought. I waited backstage all _______ in my black tights with a golden belt. In a loud and clear voice, the master of ceremonies _______that my class was next.

My dance class was doing a routine on wooden boxes two feet by two feet, facing the _______. All I had to do in the next move was put one foot on the box next to mine and keep my other foot on my box. It really was an _______ move. I was concentrating so much _______the huge smile on my face and holding my head up that I did not look________I was going. I missed my partner’s box altogether and ________. There I was standing on the stage floor when my classmates were on top of their boxes. I could hear giggles coming from the audience, and I felt the ________rush to my face. I remembered my dance teacher had told us, “If you make a mistake, keep smiling so the audience will not ________.” I did my best to follow her ________ as I continued with the routine.

When the curtain dropped, so did my ________for the evening. I ________bitterly, tasting the salt from the tears that streamed down my face. I ran backstage, but no one could ________me down.

Recently I realized I had been a ________that night. I was ________, but I fought the urge to run off the stage. ________, I finished the routine with a smile on my face. Now when friends and family laugh about the time I slipped during a dance performance, I can laugh too.

8 . In October, I told the eight-year-olds about my plan. “I’d like all of you to do extra jobs to _________ some money. Then we’ll buy food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner _________.” I wanted the children to _________ that it’s more blessed to give than to _________. I wanted them to understand that kindness is _________ nice ideas and that people somehow have to make it come _________.

Early in the week, the boys and girls arrived in class seizing their hard-earned money and couldn’t wait to go shopping. I watched _________ they ran up and down the supermarket aisles. _________, we headed toward the checkout. Then someone _________ a “necessity” that sent them racing.

“Flowers!” Kristine cried. The group rushed toward the holiday __________. I pronounced, “You can’t eat flowers.” “But Mrs. Sherlock, we want flowers.” __________, I sighed as the children moved a pot of purple daisies (雏菊) into the cart.

Then we set off for the house of a needy grandmother and finally __________ in front of a small house in the woods. A woman with a tired face came to the door to __________ us. My little group hurried to get the turkey and the trimmings. As each box was carried in, the old woman thanked us — much to children’s __________. When Amy put the daisies on the counter, the woman seemed __________.

We returned to the car. Fastening seat belts, we could see the kitchen window. The woman inside waved goodbye, then turned and walked across the room, past the turkey, past the trimmings, __________ to the daisies. She put her face in the flowers. When she raised her head, there was a __________ on her lips. She was transformed before our eyes. The children were quiet. In that one brief __________ they had seen for themselves the __________ they possessed to make another’s life better. The children had __________ that sometimes a person needs a pot of funny flowers on a dark November day.

9 . When I was eight years old, Mother told me to put my coat on because we were going to go someplace _______. Usually, that meant we were going to see someone important or _______ I would at least get a new toy. I asked which one it would be that day, and she told me that I would be getting something _______ than a toy. She said I would get “access (通向) to a world of toys.”

I had no idea _______ she was being so mysterious (神秘的) that day. _______, I had no real idea what she meant. “Access to a world of toys?” Did that mean we were buying a toy store?

But we did not _______ at any toy store. Nor did we finally see anyone we knew. _______, Mother _______ her car into a parking lot in front of a building that looked like _______ out of the past. It didn’t have a modern look at all. And as we exited the car, I ________ had no idea what this place was.

We took stone steps up to the entrance. Only then did I figure out what this place was, because there was a sign that ________ “Marcy Public Library.” We pushed the door open, and Mother led me to the reception desk. “I’d like to get ________ a library card,” she told the man ________ the desk. He asked her to fill out a form and smiled at me. “What kind of books do you like?” he asked. I was too shy to ________ then. I simply smiled back and shrugged my shoulders. “Well, you’ll figure it out ________.” He said.

I do not remember what I checked out that first day, but I know that in the years that ________ I read everything I could find ________ at that old library. I read through all the Nancy Drew books before advancing to Judy Blume, then the ________: Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Shakespeare. Then I read books on history, books of poetry, and books about art. The library opened up a world that I ________ knew existed.

So Mother was ________ . Getting a library card was like getting access to a world of toys.